The present disclosure generally relates to semiconductor devices, and particularly to faceted semiconductor nanowires and semiconductor structures employing the same, and methods of manufacturing the same.
A conventional semiconductor nanowire is formed with a rectangular vertical cross-sectional shape and a parallel pair of vertical sidewalls, or with a rounded vertical cross-sectional shape that is obtained by a thermal anneal of a semiconductor nanowire with a rectangular vertical cross-sectional shape. The surface orientations of the parallel pair of vertical sidewalls may not be optimal for providing high charge carrier mobility for semiconductor devices such as fin field effect transistors. Surfaces of a rounded semiconductor nanowire include many different crystallographic orientations, and provide a characteristic that is an average of many different crystallographic orientations.